The development of adjuvants has advanced tremendously over the past few decades. Novel adjuvants such as aluminum salts and monophosphoryl lipid (MPL) A have been approved for human use. However, we still need adjuvants that elicit durable, high-affinity immune responses to antigens. Chitin/chitosan and its derivatives have shown great advantages as new vaccine adjuvants. CD BioGlyco provides chitin/chitosan-based adjuvant development services to help customers accelerate their vaccine development.
As the second most abundant polysaccharide in nature, chitin is a long-chain polymer of N-acetylglucosamine. While chitosan is the product of deacetylation of chitin under alkaline conditions and has good biodegradability, biocompatibility, and non-toxicity. Chitin/chitosan exhibits good immunological effects, such as activation of macrophages and promotion of inflammatory cytokine production. As an immune adjuvant, chitin/chitosan has the advantages of mucosal adsorption, immunostimulatory activity, penetration enhancement, sustained and controlled release, and specific targeting. Chitin/chitosan has been widely used as a nasal adjuvant due to its mucoadhesive properties.
Fig.1 Chitosan immune properties. (Saini, 2020)
It has been reported that chitin/chitosan-induced immune responses are determined by the presence of antigens. The researchers injected mice intraperitoneally with chitosan and found that the mice's humoral immune responses were enhanced but cell-mediated immune responses were not. Subcutaneous administration of chitosan without antigen is ineffective. Chitosan enhances humoral and cellular responses to antigens through depot effects and activation of macrophages and natural killer (NK) cells. Currently, several chitosan formulations have been discovered as carriers and adjuvants to improve vaccine delivery and immunogenicity, and enhance immune responses.
Chitosan is a natural polymer widely used in the pharmaceutical industry due to its excellent biological properties. Meanwhile, chitosan has also been widely studied as an important adjuvant. CD BioGlyco is a leader in the development of carbohydrate adjuvants. We provide adjuvant development services based on chitin/chitosan and its derivatives through direct synthesis or chemical modification. Services we provide include but are not limited to:
CD BioGlyco is a recognized leader in Carbohydrate-Based Adjuvant Development. Based on our powerful Glyco™ Vaccine Development Platform, CD BioGlyco offers customized solutions for chitin/chitosan-base adjuvant development. Our rigorous development thinking and experienced scientists will help you accelerate your chitin/chitosan-based adjuvant project development. If you have an adjuvant development project in hand, please contact us directly and we will do our best to meet your demands.
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